• IN THIS ISSUE:
• Tories plan government ‘culture shift’;
• Youth online engagement damaged;
• New model for free local Wi-Fi;
• OECD e-government update;
• Local self-government charter;
• European award winners;
• The future of political blogging.

NEWS: Tories Plan Government Internet ‘Culture Shift’

If the Conservatives wins the next election they will use the internet to change the culture of government, Samuel Coates, head of the Conservatives’ online election campaign network MyConservatives.com, told last week’s Future Democracy ‘09 conference...

Read full story here, Tories’ culture shift...
Back to index

---

NEWS: Youth Engagement Damaged By ‘Wonky’ Attitudes

Politicians’ failure to get to grips with technology is preventing young people from practicing e-democracy, the manager of an online political discussion forum for under-18s told last week’s Future Democracy ‘09 conference...

Read full story here, Youth engagement damaged...
Back to index

---

NEWS: ‘Mesh’ Scheme Offers New Model For Free Local Wi-Fi A Wi-Fi ‘mesh’ providing all residents of the town of Swindon in Wiltshire with free wireless internet access could “change the way the public sector does business”, the leader of Swindon Borough Council has told E-Government Bulletin... Read full story here, Wi-Fi ‘mesh’ scheme... Back to index

---

NEWS IN BRIEF:

Economic Consequences: E-government programmes have been restructured in many countries in an attempt to increase government efficiency against a tough economic background, claims a new report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). ‘The financial and economic crisis — impact on e-government in OECD countries’ also found that the UK was one of a small number of countries to cut e-government spending in 2009:

Quick link: OECD report
Back to index

Local Protocol: Use of information and communications technologies to increase democratic participation should be encouraged by all local councils across Europe, according to a new protocol added to the European Charter of Local Self-Government drawn up by the Council of Europe:

Quick link: Charter of Local Self-Government
Back to index

European Winners: A ‘European order for payment’ system, helping organisations chase civil claims for outstanding payments from bodies in other EU countries, developed in Austria and Germany, is among winners of the fourth European eGovernment Awards. Other winners are a one-stop public service portal from Danish municipality Gentofte Kommune; Italy’s public e-procurement platform, MEPA; a Portuguese system allowing people to obtain hunting licences using cashpoint machines; and a judicial information SMS service from Turkey:

Quick link: European eGovernment Awards
Back to index

---

E-DEMOCRACY FOCUS: The Future of Political Blogging Blogging 2010: Let’s Get Ready To Rumble In the US, it was the 2004 election cycle that really saw the development of popularised blogging as a political force, writes Will Straw, editor of Left Foot Forward. It was during the Bush vs. Kerry contest that bloggers first consistently created news that received widespread attention, began building large audiences, and — most importantly — started to organise and link to similarly-minded sites and stories. But what are the lessons and predictions for the UK?... Read full story here, Political blogging 2010... Back to index